Time is of the essence...

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A pack of gum, a water sachet, plantain chips, even apples or super glue or posters of Ghana all have the potential to be impulse buys, right?
Now a parrot, on the other hand, is not something I would classify as an impulse buy.
I was in a taxi driving through Osu the other day and there was a man trying to sell me a parrot in a cage. I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure how many people impulsively think, hey, a parrot! Let me just buy this through the window while I’m stuck in traffic… Haha
Good news! Fidela was adopted from the orphanage the other day, and there are at least 4 more kids expected to be adopted in the next few months, Mina included. I can’t explain to you how happy I am to know those kids will always be loved.
The orphanage has been as good as usual lately and I am constantly wishing that my time with them wasn’t drawing to a close. Last week there was a thunderstorm while we were there and all 40 of us sat on the small back porch and entertained ourselves with clapping games, songs and our digital cameras. I let the kids take turns “snapping.” I have some pretty interesting pictures as a result - there are quite a number of Emma posing as various superheroes and more than few close ups of random eyes and mouths. Mina tried about 25 unsuccessful attempts at yanking the mole off of my neck while we were packed on the porch and Grace decided to use me as a trampoline in lieu of the one that was out in the rain. Haha
It has been absolutely sweltering during the days in the last week or so and then it cools off and I wake up to some crazy storms at night.
Our USAC group had a farewell dinner together with our adviser at Frankie’s in Osu the other night and it was scrumptious, but it made it that much more apparent that it’s almost time to go home.
Since my time is ticking in Ghana, I have been trying to pack as much into my days as possible. I explored Osu with Romina the other day (hence my encounter with the parrot) and we discovered this amazing little salad bar right off of the main road. It was delicious, and why I didn’t know about it until now is a bit of an upsetting mystery to me.
I got on a tro tro the other day and the kid sitting next to me just struck up a conversation in Spanish. It was the most bizarre thing, but we spent the entire ride speaking in Spanish. It was a nice little refresher.
I got a package full of school supplies from Mom and Dad in the mail the other day and I am oh so excited to get back to the primary school and give everything out. They are going to love it!
Picking up the package from the post office was a bit frustrating though because they make you open each and every thing that you get and once the lady saw what was in mine, she made me share some of the food with her…
Last Saturday a few of us decided to take a day trip and go to the Shai Hills baboon sanctuary that is about 50 kilometers from Accra. Somehow we managed to pick the most roundabout way to get there and in addition to it taking about 3 hours for us to go 50 kilometers, we also came far too close to being caught in some sort of riot.
We were pulling out of the tro tro station in Ashaiman and as soon as we got out onto the street, everyone, literally everyone, just started running. I mean, even cars were turning around to go the other way. I didn’t know what to think, but the first thing that came to my mind was, “Oh my God, something is going to blow up.” Then, tons of random things streamed through my mind in the course of about 30 seconds. I pictured scenes anywhere from a bunch of men in the back of a truck with machine guns to a flood, “Jumanji” style. All I could think was, “There is no way I am gonna be able to get out of this tro tro, I can’t get out, I can’t get out…” I was absolutely terrified - it was the first time I have ever felt completely unsafe since being in Ghana. After people calmed down and everyone decided it was some sort of fight, we were on our way. I couldn’t stop shaking though and my heart was beating too fast for quite a while. A fight didn’t cross my mind because usually when there is a fight, people flock to watch, not run away…
Anyway, we finally go to the baboon sanctuary and it was pretty amazing. The baboons were ten feet away from us the whole time and as we were leaving, they all came up and sat next to the road. I got some pretty sweet pictures.
I have an exam tomorrow and then I’m headed back to Butre beach for a few days before I return to Legon, take 2 more exams, and then get ready to leave…
Meanwhile, I’m missing you all.
Much love,
Cari

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